has been named as the referee for Manchester United's Europa League final against Tottenham, with the German having a controversial past
Felix Zwayer has been confirmed as the referee for Manchester United's Europa League final against Tottenham Hotspur.
United take on Spurs at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao next Wednesday, May 21st.
UEFA have confirmed that Zwayer will be overseeing the match. The 43-year-old German has officiated over 680 games and has taken charge of several Champions League matches this season.
Despite being highly regarded by UEFA, talk around Zwayer is often overshadowed by a scandal from his early days as a referee.
A 2005 investigation discovered Zwayer accepted a €300 bribe from fellow referee Robert Hoyzer and was subsequently banned for six months by Germany’s football federation (DFB) , while Hoyzer was sentenced to two years and five months in prison and received a lifetime ban from football.
Zwayer has since rebuilt his career, becoming one of the Bundesliga's top referees. Last summer, he refereed England's Euro 2024 semi-final victory over the Netherlands, but this hasn't prevented criticism from some quarters, reports football.London.
Real Madrid and England star Jude Bellingham referenced the German's past during a post-match interview following a 3-2 loss to Bayern Munich when he was playing for Borussia Dortmund. The midfielder criticised Zwayer's performance after he failed to award Dortmund a penalty and gave Bayern one for handball.
"You give a referee that has match-fixed before the biggest game in Germany - what do you expect? For me, it wasn't [a penalty]," he said. "He [Hummels] is not even looking at the ball and he's fighting to get it and it hits him. You can look at a lot of the decisions in the game."
Bellingham was fined €40,000 for his comments. Zwayer defended his handball decision in a public interview before taking a two-month break from refereeing.
He told Sky Germany at the time: "The situation was a standard corner kick.
"I see in the game that it's about a touch by Hummels. The question for me was: Is the arm stretched away from the body or not? In real-time, it was not clear whether his arm was moved towards the ball.
"I checked it with [VAR officials] in Cologne and then the arm position was checked.
"The video assistant made an assessment for himself and said that Hummels had his arm away from the body in an unnatural position.
"In the end, he clearly deflected the ball with his elbow and I came to the decision that it was a penalty."